Welcome to Harris Academy Bermondsey, an Outstanding girls’ school in the heart of London.
At HAB, we are passionate about the success of each girl, ensuring that she has every opportunity to succeed by identifying and nurturing her individual talents. Our teachers are permanent, well-qualified subject specialists, while the support staff is a team of exceptionally skilled professionals. HAB is a happy and safe school in which each girl is helped to flourish so that she can fulfil our motto of ‘Conquering the City’ by discovering and achieving her ambitions. All of us were delighted when Ofsted visited us in March 2015 and rated us as Outstanding in every one of their categories, noting that HAB is “an excellent example of a harmonious learning community” whose girls “are eager learners who are keen to do their best” and in which “staff morale is high”. Any prospectus can only give you a flavour of life at a school as rich and vibrant as HAB, so we strongly encourage you to arrange a visit. In the meantime, a good way to get a feeling for daily HAB life is to follow our various Twitter feeds, starting with @habprincipal. We look forward to welcoming you. Gillian Hodgson and Rebecca Iles-Smith, Acting Principals
1
ALL 500+ 300+
2
HAB girls go on to university, training or employment.
HAB girls have a weekly one-to-one mentoring session with a business or university role model, many of whom are HAB alumni.
HAB girls have free weekly private tuition from professional musicians and vocalists. “ Staff are committed to making sure that every student has the opportunity to do their best.� Ofsted, March 2015
“ Students are spirited, energetic, courteous and well mannered. They are also very caring and supportive towards each other.� Ofsted, March 2015
3
Outstanding Teaching HAB girls benefit from an extremely dedicated team of exceptionally well-qualified permanent teachers and exemplary support staff. From her first day with us, each HAB girl is prepared for success with personalised teaching that forms a firm foundation of knowledge and skills across a broad range of subjects, enrichment activities and educational visits. Girls are given an iPad to use in school and when completing their own learning at home. HAB teachers plan their lessons carefully with each girls’ strengths and areas for improvement in mind. Exercise books and diaries are used for detailed dialogue about learning between teachers, girls and parents or carers. Our outstanding special needs and literacy teams also work with any girl who needs their expert support, whether it be in class, in small groups or one-to-one. For GCSE, each girl follows the English Baccalaureate (English, Mathematics, Sciences, History or Geography, Spanish or French), as well as at least one creative subject, Physical Education and Religious Studies.
4
“ Teachers use questions skilfully to challenge students’ thinking and to extend their learning.”
Ofsted, march 2015
HAB6 Sixth Form prepares girls for university, training or employment, in partnership with top city firms and higher education institutions. All this takes place in a smart and welcoming learning environment. HAB girls’ learning is supported by generous and high quality resources in every subject, as well as world class specialist facilities. These include university standard science laboratories and a 240 seat professional theatre.
Why is HAB for girls only? We are often asked this question, especially by HAB parents who want their sons to have as good an education as their daughters! By most measures, girls in England outperform boys in GCSEs and A-levels, whatever type of school they attend. Crucially, though, girls in girls’ schools achieve better examination results than girls at mixed schools. In addition to these better results, universities and employers consider girls from girls’ schools to offer superior leadership skills; to be more resilient and risk taking; and, to have greater ambitions. At HAB, we certainly know that this is true of our girls. As a parent, you will be giving your daughter the best possible opportunities by sending her to our excellent girls’ school.
5
“ Students’ personal development and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are excellent. This gives them the confidence to thrive academically.” Ofsted, March 2015
6
Outstanding Behaviour Key to our success is cultivating good HABits, so that all girls work hard in a happy and safe learning environment, with firm but fair discipline. “ Significant emphasis is placed on supporting students’ personal development. This provides them with the confidence to thrive academically.” Ofsted, March 2015
All HAB girls know our rules and abide by them. We expect every girl to be on time, dressed correctly and prepared to work hard, always following staff instructions. Our girls always want to live up to these expectations, but on the rare occasion that one of them fails to do so, she knows that there will be clear consequences, followed by support to learn from the experience. We offer outstanding care and guidance for every one of our girls. Throughout her time at HAB, we guarantee that every girl will be known by all her teachers, support staff and the school’s senior leaders, including the Principal. We also guarantee to every parent or carer that we will work closely with them to raise their daughter successfully, sharing the joys and challenges of this with honesty and integrity.
7
Outstanding Opportunities HAB girls make the most of an unrivalled range of opportunities every day.
“ The curriculum caters exceptionally well for students’ personal needs and for their academic progress.” Ofsted, March 2015
HAB Enrichment HAB girls take part in numerous activities before and after lessons each day. These include the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, trampolining, rowing, football, netball, basketball, tennis, rock climbing, archery, cheerleading, computing, dance, orchestra, choir, debating, creative writing, journalism, song writing, textiles, art, HAB Feminist Society, archaeology and engineering. Homework club provides the opportunity for girls to get help with research or any other task. We believe that learning outside the classroom can be just as valuable as what takes place inside it. With our central London location, there are many opportunities for girls to visit the city’s best theatres, museums and other attractions. We also make good use of how close we are to major transport hubs. Recent visits have included auctioneering at Christie’s Auction House, hiking and camping in nearby countryside and research at the CERN large hadron collider in Switzerland. Many of our GCSE and A-level courses include residential field trips, such as Skiing in Italy. Every girl visits at least one university in London and one elsewhere in the UK during her first few years at HAB.
9
HAB Music
HAB Mentoring
We know the value of the discipline and creativity that comes with learning a musical instrument. That is why every girl who wants it is entitled to free private instrumental or voice tuition throughout her time at HAB. This includes the loan of instruments for practice at home. Hundreds of girls take this opportunity, with many of them passing ABRSM exams and performing in HAB concerts.
We have won national awards for the extent to which our girls benefit from one-to-one mentoring and subject tuition with one of the hundreds of business people and university students who volunteer at HAB. We are fortunate to be located close to the major international law and consultancy firms of London Bridge, More London and the City of London. Many of our mentors are senior executives from these firms, as well as high profile individuals from the worlds of journalism and finance. Appointments with them take place every day, from well before lessons begin until long after they end.
For those girls with a particular musical gift, we also offer the HAB Music Scholarship. In addition to private lessons, our music scholars attend masterclasses and concerts with the world’s leading instrumentalists and singers.
“ Students particularly value the additional provision such as the academy’s business mentoring programme.” Ofsted, March 2015
10
This individual mentoring support is invaluable. It plays a significant role in enabling girls to attain the highest standards in examinations, provides guidance on progression to university and inspires them to be ambitious in their career choices. It has been recognised as the biggest and best programme of its kind by the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation, as well as inspiring the government to fund similar programmes across the UK following two visits to HAB by David Cameron. The subject tuition is of a quality for which parents of children at other schools have to pay.
11
Harris Federation Our academy is run by the Harris Federation, a not-for-profit charity with nearly thirty years’ experience of running happy and successful primary and secondary schools in and around London. The Harris Federation has an exceptional track record with academic progress far greater than the national average. Every Harris academy so far inspected by Ofsted is rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ with the majority rated ‘outstanding’. The founder and Chairman of the Harris Federation is Lord Harris of Peckham. His vision of delivering happy and successful education is brought to life by an excellent team of teachers and leaders. As well as joint working between the teachers at our academies, there are many shared experiences for our students. These include federation-wide sports days at the National Sports Centre; Harris Experience, a unique programme that readies our most able students for life at top universities; and inter-academy events such as one-to-one reading partnerships between our primary and secondary schools, World Maths Day and Debate Mate. You can follow the Harris Federation on Twitter: @harrisfed
12
Each year for Sports Day, the Harris Federation hires the Crystal Palace Sports Stadium. With well over 10,000 student and staff spectators in attendance, Academies compete in team and individual sports. The sound of students cheering each other on is so loud that Team GB athlete Louise Jukes who happened to be nearby tweeted: “Can hear hundreds of kids screaming from the stadium at Crystal Palace! What a great noise! Kids loving sports day! Wish I was a kid again!”
From the Chief Executive The Harris Federation is a London charity with nearly thirty years’ experience in education. Our Academies combine the traditional values of good manners, strong discipline and smart uniform with the best of modern teaching and technology. Harris Academy Bermondsey has established itself as a highly enterprising and very successful member of our group. Working closely together in and around London, our Academies are able to offer a far broader range of opportunities, far better training and professional development for staff and real success for our students. What makes this Academy so successful? Students who enjoy learning and look forward to coming to school each day; teachers and support staff who are genuinely ambitious for every student; a senior leadership team that consistently sets standards of excellence. If your daughter wants to come to an Academy with drive and ambition, then I hope you will attend one of its open events to find out more.
Sir Daniel Moynihan Ed.D, M.A., B.Sc. (Econ) Chief Executive of the Harris Federation
From the Sponsor As an employer and a father I strongly believe that a good education is the best start in life that you can give a child. Harris Academy Bermondsey promotes hard work, curiosity of mind, integrity and ambition. It works tirelessly, in partnership with the other Harris Academies, to ensure the greatest success for every child, regardless of their ability or aptitude. I hope you will come along to our various Open Day or Evening Events to see for yourself the difference the Academy is making. Lord Harris of Peckham
55 Southwark Park Road, London SE16 3TZ T: 020 7237 9316 F: 020 7237 9204 Email: reception@harrisbermondsey.org.uk www.harrisbermondsey.org.uk @habprincipal